Helena Cross picks up on the first ring.
"Ms. Vann," she says. "I expected you to wait the three weeks."
"I expected to wait the three weeks too," I say. "You bought Rhys Callahan's restoration project."
A pause. Not the pause of someone caught out, the pause of someone who was waiting for this specific sentence.
"I did," she says.
"Why?"
"Because it is an exceptional property with significant heritage value and my company has been looking for a London-adjacent retreat and event space for two years," she says. "When it came to my attention that it was available, I moved on it."
"It was not available," I say. "Rhys has a contract."
"Rhys has a contract to restore it," she says pleasantly. "Which I fully intend to honour. I bought the property, not the restoration a
